


Just before Breathing

by faikitty



Category: Karneval
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2018-02-22 20:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2520281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faikitty/pseuds/faikitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yogi isn’t really a fan of the doctor, but he prefers him to the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just before Breathing

Yogi doesn’t like being caught out in the rain. He’s a  _cat_ , for god’s sake. Well, maybe not literally, but he has to try to stay in character for Nyanperona. And Nyanperona does not like water.

When the downpour starts, Yogi is standing at an intersection a few yards away from a souvenir store, debating on whether or not the merchandise he just bought for Nai and Gareki will be to their liking and if he should go back to exchange it. Nai will be overjoyed with anything, he knows, while Gareki will hate everything, but he figures a stuffed niji (a recent addition to their Circus goods) for Nai and a pair of Nyanperona goggles for Gareki will suffice. The moment the rain starts, tiny drops at first then a roaring wave of water, he hides the gifts in his pockets and sprints across the street to stand beneath an awning.

With his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath, Yogi comes face to face with the dreaded doctor.

His first instinct is to run away. He tries to, spinning on his heel and marching back into the downpour, but Akari grabs the loose cloth on his shirt and pulls him back. “Don’t be an idiot,” Akari barks at him, and Yogi stares at his feet.

And truthfully, between the rain and Akari, he would prefer Akari.

“Good work getting caught out in the rain,” the doctor says as they stand side by side. He watches the rain fall down in sheets while Yogi sits back on his ankles and fiddles with the plush niji anxiously.

“You got caught in the rain too,” he mutters, too quiet for Akari to hear. His fidgeting increases when he realizes the doctor  _could_  hear him after all.

Akari glances down at the younger man. “I would have been back an hour ago if not for the incompetency of my subordinates. And you’re hardly any better. What are you doing playing in the city? You’re a member of Circus; you should be working,” he chastises, and Yogi’s lips close in a pout.

“I was on my way back. Hirato-san needed me to run some errands for him.”

Akari sighs and pushes back a stray strand of hair. “I’m not surprised.”

Yogi gazes at the rain and continues playing with the Niji, and Akari makes no attempts to keep up a conversation. Their time stalled together passes quietly, but Yogi is still immeasurably relieved when a small ship arrives to escort the doctor back. He can’t help but grin at the sight of Akari getting soaked by the rain in the five steps it takes to get to the aircraft.

Suddenly, Yogi once again finds himself grabbed by his shirt tails and dragged onto the ship, door slamming shut behind him. He makes a quick mental note to cut the damn things off all of his clothes, shakes water out of his now drenched hair, and turns to face Akari with a mortified expression. He can’t find any words, so he just makes a series of agitated sounds.

Akari is unfazed. “Quit squawking. You said you were on your way back, and I have some medicine to drop off at your ship anyway.” He ignores Yogi’s continued incoherent noises and grabs a towel from a shelf, drying off his hair. Some of it stays hanging in front of his eyes, and the thought rises unbidden to Yogi’s mind that  _he looks cute_. With his fair skin wet, his eyes distant, and his hair messy, he looks almost harmless.

The illusion is broken as soon as Akari’s eyes meet Yogi’s. The doctor takes the younger man by the shoulders, sits down, and plants Yogi on the floor at his feet. “Wha—?” Yogi cuts off as a towel falls over his face. He can feel his hair being mussed in it, dried off by… the  _doctor_? “What are you doing?” he manages to ask eventually.

“You have perfectly functioning eyes. I’m drying your hair,” Akari says shortly.

“But… why…?”

Akari pauses for a moment then continues. “If your hair remains wet, you’ll get sick. If you get sick, you’ll have to come to me for treatment. Neither of us wants that.”

_Ah_. Yogi won’t protest then. Besides, it feels  _good_ , the older man’s slender fingers stroking his hair and massaging his head. Despite his nerves, Yogi relaxes and leans into Akari’s legs, finding that the contact between them is surprisingly… pleasant.

The trip back to 2nd Ship doesn’t last nearly long enough. Akari doesn’t stop until they’re there, even though Yogi thinks at the back of his mind that his hair  _must_  be dry by now. He doesn’t think much at all consciously, content to feel the doctor’s hands on him. He doesn’t even think about how odd it is that he feels that way when normally the mere sight of Akari would send him running.

What he  _does_  think about is that when it’s time for them to get out, he doesn’t  _want_  to. Even when the towel is removed from his head and the doors are opened for them to leave, he remains curled up at Akari’s feet. He hesitates a few seconds too long and is given a kick from Akari, whose legs are stuck behind Yogi’s body.

In that moment, Yogi makes up his mind. He turns suddenly, lifts himself up using Akari’s knee, and kisses the doctor. The older man’s lips are warm and soft and cave to the shape of his, and Yogi forgets in that seemingly suspended instant what it is that ever made him fear Akari in the first place.

When they separate and Akari stands, looking more confused and more irritated than Yogi has ever seen him, Yogi just sways slightly. As his head clears, he realizes Akari is gazing at him with a look far closer to wrath than lust.

“I’d begun to think you were starting to wise up, and maybe your appointments with me wouldn’t be quite so unbearable before long. It seems I was wrong,” Akari comments, strolling out of the door. He glances back over his shoulder with a smile that sends a chill down Yogi’s spine.

Right.  _That’s_  why he’s afraid of him.


End file.
